Material disseminating apparatus for airplanes



Jail. 15, 1952 M. CARBERRY MATERIAL DISSEMINATING APPARATUS FOR AIRPLANES 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed March 15, 1946 Inventor Ma 2' Car-bezz-y y t I! I Jan. 15, 1952 Filed March 13, 1946 CARBERRY MATERIAL DISSEMINATING APPARATUS FOR AIRPLANES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor Jan. 15, 1952 M. cARBERRY MATERIAL DISSEMINATZING APPARATUS FOR AIRPLANES 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 15, 1946 Inventor Ma Z (a lie:- 2

406% WWW 3% Patented Jan. 15, 1952 OFFICE MATERIAL DIS SEMINATING APPARATUS FOR AIRPLAN ES Mal Carberry, Fresno, Calif.

Application March 13, 1946, Serial No. 654,163

This invention relates to apparatus for disseminating finely divided or powdered material from airplanes, such as is commonly known and practiced in the art of dusting crops.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved means for agitating the material so as to prevent clogging of the same in the apparatus and to thereby insure a free flow of the material from the apparatus.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved means including a volumetric measuring discharge device, forv effecting variable rates of delivery of the material from the apparatus and by means of which the actual rate of delivery of the material may be regulated so that the quantity of material disseminated per unit area is maintained substantially constant.

The invention has further reference to an apparatus-of the above kind wherein the agitating means and discharge device are driven-by an impeller located in and driven by the slip stream ofthe airplane propeller, and wherein, a manually adjustable valve is provided for regulating the quantity of material delivered to a Venturi tube, a brake being provided for controlling the operation of the mentioned impeller so that theagitating means and discharge device are only driven when the valve is open. 7 The present invention contemplates improved means forinterconnecting and manually operating the brake and the valve so that the former is applied when the latter is closed, and vice versa. g

More specific objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following. description when considered in connection w it h the accompanying drawingsinwhich: g,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view, partlylin side elevation and partly broken away and insection, of an airplane body provided with an apparatus constructed in accordance with'the present invention.

Figure 2 is a view somewhat similar to Figure l, but with additional parts in elevation.

Figure 3 is a side elevational view looking toward the left of Figure 4. v

Figure 4 is a view of the construction shown in Figure 1, partly in front elevation and partly in vertical transverse section.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 5 indicates the body or fuselage of an airplane, and 6 indicates a hopper provided in the fuselage 5 in front of the cockpit I and adapted to receive the material to be disseminated. At the bottom, the hopper 6 is provided with a concaved bottom wall 8 of substantially semi cylindrical form in. 917055 3 Claims. (Cl. 244136) section and preferably extended the full width of the hopper. The bottom wall 8 of the hopper is provided in its rear lower portion with an outlet opening 9 in the form of an elongated slot extending substantially from end to end of said wall 8. The opening 9 is controlled by an arcuate slid-- ing gate l0 disposed against the underside of the wall 8 and mounted in suitable arcuate guides at II. By adjusting the gate ill, the quantity of material discharged from the hopper may be regulated, and manually operable means is provided for adjusting said gate. This means pref-. erably consists of a rack I2 provided on the underside of the gate ill and engaged by a worm 13 secured on the forward end of a forwardly in'-* clined shaft I4 that extends rearwardly and upwardly into the cockpit I where it is equipped with a suitable crank or handle l5 for actuation by the operator seated in the cockpit.

A Venturi tube I6 is longitudinally arranged directly beneath the fuselage 5 within the slip stream of the airplane propeller. Immediately in front of the throat of the Venturi tube, the latter is provided with an inlet neck I! connected to the bottom of the hopper 6 so that the material is discharged into the same through the opening 9 of the hopper. At the juncture of the neck I! with the Venturi tube I6, the latteris provided with an inlet opening l8 through which the material passes from the neck I I into the Venturi tube. The passage of material through the opening I8 is controlled by a valve I9 which is hinged at 20 at its-forward edgefor vertical swinging movement. A hand lever 2| is pivotally mountedin'the cockpit I and is operatively con;-

nected to the rear portion of valve l9 by a con-v necting rod 22, conventional means including-a rack segment 23 being provided for latching the lever 2| in adjusted positions. Thus, lever 2| may be actuated for closing the valve l9 or for adjusting it to fullyor different partially opened positions.- This. provides a secondary and desi'rable control of the material supplied to the Venturi tube, as well as a control of the volume of the stream of air passing through the latter; It is thus possible to effectively regulate the dis-5 charge and dissemination of the material according to the exact nature of the material and so as to insure most efficient operation under varying conditions of use.'

For the. purpose of feeding the material from the hopperfi, a volumetric measuring discharge device 24 is provided in the bottom of the hopper 5. This discharge device is of thecylindrical drum type including a cylinder 25 secured upon a shaft 2-6 located at the axis of the concaved bottom wall 8 of the hopper, and a plurality of short vanes 21 rigid with and radiating from the cylinder 25 so that their outer edges operate in close proximity to the surface of the wall 8. As shown more clearly in Figure 4, the vanes 21 are disposed obliquely of the cylinder 25 and are arranged in longitudinal rows with those of each row circumferentially staggered with respect to those of the next adjacent rows. It will be apparent that the relative diameter of cylinder 25 and the length of vanes 2! will govern the rate of discharge of the material through the opening 9 by the device 24, and the cylinder 25 is preferably made in sections removable from shaft 26 to permit the substitution of different types of drums according to the type of material to: be disseminated. It will further be seen that the upper portion of the drum passes through the material above the concave wall 8 so as to have an agitating action upon the material. prior to feeding it downwardly and rearwardly through theopening 9. Shaft 26 is mounted in bearings 28 and extends through one of the latter where its projecting end is equipped with. a sprocket wheel 29 as shown inv Figure 2. v

Disposed above the drum or device 24 is a transverse upper agitator 3d of the crank type. As shown, the agitator 38' includes a pair of spacedcrank arms 3| secured on a shaft 32 journaled in bearings 33 mounted in opposite sides of the hopper 6, and a bar 34 connecting the outer ends of said crank. arms 3|. The bearings 33 are of special form; being provided attheir inner ends with packing glands 35 to prevent entrance of the material into the bearings from the hopper. The bearings 28 for the shaft of device 24 are also preferably of this type. Shaft 32 also extends outwardly through one of the bearings 33 where its projecting end is equipped with a sprocket wheel 36 as is also best shown in Figure 2.. The sprocket wheels 29 and'36 are located between a side of hopper 6 and the adjacent side wall of fuselage 5, and another sprocket wheel 3'! is also journaled in this space rearwardly of shafts 26 and 32. An endless sprocket chain 38' passes around the sprocket wheels 29, 36 and 31 so that rotation of sprocket wheel 31 is transmitted to the shafts 26 and 32. Specifically, the sprocket wheel 31 is secured on the inner end of a transverse horizontal shaft 39 that extends laterally from one side of the fuselage and is equipped on its outer end with a small worm wheel or gear 49. Disposed longitudinally of and beside the fuselage 5 is a further horizontal shaft 4| which is provided at its rear end with a worm 42' meshing with the gear 40. The shaft 4| may be journaled in bearing brackets 43 mounted upon the lower wing 44 of the airplane at this side of the fuselage. At its forward end,- the shaft 4| is equipped with an impeller which is arranged in the slip stream of the airplane propeller so as to be driven thereby. Thus, as the airplane travels ahead, impeller drives shaft 4| and motion is transmitted from this shaft to the agitator 30 and device 24 by the op-' erating connections described. Just behind the impeller and on shaft 4| there is a brake drum 45. While the brake may be of any type, it is shown as including a brake band 46 extending around the drum lfi and having its ends connected to a lever arm 47, A-Bowden wire operating device is employedtoprovide an operating connection between the lever arm l'l and the connecting rod 22 which operating device includes the usual rigid guide tube 48 extended from the cockpit 1 around the hopper 6 and laterally through one side of the fuselage 5 to a point adjacent the lever arm 41. The device further includes the usual flexible actuating wire 49 that is extended through the guide tube 48 and is attached at one end to the lever arm 41 and is connected at its other end by a tension spring 53 to the rod 22'. The arrangementis such that when lever 2| is operated to close the valve |9, a pull is exerted on wire 49 so as to tighten the band 46 on the drum and thereby restrain the shaft. 4| against rotation by the impeller. On the other hand, the arrangement is also such that when the lever 2| is operated to open the valve l9, tension on spring 55 is relieved and band 45 is released from drum 45 so as to permit the propeller to drive the shaft 4|. Thus, when valve |9 is closed, agitation and discharge of material automatically stops, and when valve i9 is opened, such agitation and: discharge of material is D6 mitte'd. The hopper (i has a suitable lid 5| which may be opened to facilitate introduction of material to be disseminated within the hopper t.

In use, the operator actuates lever 2| so as to open.- valve |9 to the desired degree and to release the brake band 46, thereby permitting the propeller to drive the agitator 30 and discharge device 24. Agitator 30 keeps the material loose so that it will effectively flow downwardly to the discharge device 24 and will not be tun neled by the latter. The discharge device 24 provides further agitation for the same purpose and also insures feeding of the material uniformly downwardly and rearwardly to the opening 9. shaft I4 is operated to adjust the gate l0 and thereby regulate the rate of discharge of the material fromthe hopper. The opening of valve i9 adjustably restricts the passage through the Venturi tube l6 so as to obtain the desired dissemination of the material delivered to the Venturi tube. Whenever it is desired to discontinue dissemination of the material, lever 2| is actuated to close valve l9 and to apply brake band 46 so as to prevent driving of shaft 4| by the impeller. This of course, should be done after closing the gate 9 so that material delivered to the neck M will be discharged before closing the valve IS. The use of the vaned cylinder 25 op erating concentrically of and within the concave bottom wall 8 has been found very eflicient for the intended purpose, and the manner of interconnecting the valve l9 and brake band 46 with the lever 2| provides a simple and efficient means for accomplishing the stated result. Minor changes in details of construction illustrated and described are contemplated, such as fairly fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

WhatIclaimis:

1. In combination with an airplane having an elongated fuselage providing a cockpit, an apparatus for dispensing finely divided material from the airplane comprising a hopper having downwardly convergent walls extended transversely of the fuselage, said walls having lower edges interconnected by a downwardly concave semicylindrical wall having a longitudinal axis transversely of the fuselage, the semicylindrical wall having an elongated slot formed longitudinally therein, an arcuategate of segmental cy-- lindrical form mounted concentrically against the wall rotatable to open and closed positions across the slot, means located in the cockpit connected tothe gate for manually rotating the gate to selected positions, a cylinder of smaller diam-=- eter than the inner diameter of the semicylindrical wal1 mounted concentrically oi? the wall and having a plurality of spaced vanes extending radially therefrom in close proximity to the wall, means for rotating said cylinder, and an elongated Venturi tube having a constricted portion supported below the hopper longitudinally of the fuselage having the constricted portion thereof in communication with the slot in the semicylindrical wall, the tube being formed with a forwardly disposed air intake opening and a rearwardly disposed discharge opening.

2. In combination with an airplane, an apparatus for dispensing finely divided material from the airplane comprising a hopper having a downwardly concave semicylindrical bottom wall having a longitudinal axis transversely of the airplane and having an elongated slot formed longitudinally therethrough, a cylinder rotatably mounted in the hopper coaxially of the bottom wall having a plurality of spaced vanes extending radially therefrom into close proximity to the inner surface of the wall, means for rotating the cylinder, a gate of segmental cylindrical form mounted on the hopper coaxially of the wall in intimate contact with the wall movable to open and closed positions relative to the slot, means for manually adjusting the gate to selected positions, a Venturi tube supported below the hopper longitudinally of the airplane with a communicating neck portion between the wall and the interior of the Venturi tube, and a manually operable valve movable to open and closed positions between the neck and Venturi tube.

,3. An apparatus for disseminating finely divided material from an airplane comprising a hopper having downwardly converging sides terminating at their lower edges in a downwardly concave semicylindrical wall having a longitudinal axis parallel to the sides of the hopper and having a slot formed longitudinally in the semicylindrical wall, a cylinder rotatably mounted in the hopper coaxially of the semicylindrical wall having a plurality of vanes extending radially therefrom in proximity to the concave surface of the wall, adjacent vanes being oppositely angularly displaced from alignment with the cylinder, an arcuate gate comprising a segment of a cylinder mounted on the hopper coaxially of the wall for rotative movement to open and to closed positions relative to the slot in the wall, means for manually regulating the gate to selected positions, and a Venturi tube mounted below the hopper having an air intake opening, an outlet opening, and an intermediate constricted portion in communication with the slot in the semicylindrical wall of the hopper.

MAL CARBERRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name a Date 1,703,308 Johnson Feb. 26, 1929 1,787,397 Savage Dec. 30, 1930 2,356,119 Quick Aug. 15,1944 2,427,987 Wilson Sept. 23, 1947 

